On October 26, 2016, the CRTC released its first written decision under the Act commonly known as the Canadian Anti-Spam Legislation, or “CASL”. The decision involves nine messaging campaigns that took place between July 9 and September 18, 2014, in which Blackstone Learning Corp sent more than 385,000 unsolicited commercial electronic messages. Although the CRTC found that Blackstone had indeed violated the provisions of CASL relating the commercial electronic messages, it reduced the Administrative Monetary Penalty (AMP) set out in the relevant Notice of Violation from $640,000 to $50,000.

The decision contains a detailed discussion of the relevant factors for determining an appropriate AMP, including the purpose of the penalty (deterrence without imposing true penal consequences), the nature and scope of the violation, and other relevant factors. For instance, the CRTC found that Blackstone did not cooperate with the CASL investigation, although it showed signs that it was aware of and concerned with compliance with the regime.

Interestingly, the CRTC found that Blackstone had committed nine violations rather than 385,000. This suggests that the CRTC interprets the number of violations of CASL to be the number of non-compliant messaging campaigns, rather than the total number of commercial electronic messages sent to recipients without their consent.

E-TIPS® ISSUE

16 11 02

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